Jack Palance

Born Volodymyr Palahniuk on Feb. 18, 1919 in Lattimer Pines, PA, "Jack" was the son of Ukrainian immigrant parents, Vladmir and Anna. As a boy, he worked alongside his father in the local coalmines, only to find escape from the risky work via his athletic prowess. In the 1930s, under the nom de guerre of Jack Brazzo, he enjoyed a short, successful career as a boxer. Palance - a name he would later adopt upon deciding to become an actor - had already begun to doubt the wisdom of taking beatings for money, when the outbreak of World War II brought his stint in the ring to an abrupt end. In 1942, he enrolled in the U.S. Army Air Corps., where he underwent pilot's training until a serious... Continue Bio >>